The students were then given a clear plastic cup. When they pressed their creatures against the inside wall of the cup, the animals appeared to be swimming. Additional thought went into other elements of the creatures’ environments: What do they eat? Where do they hide and sleep? The children began including plant life and rocks. As they worked, stories began to unfold about the creatures and their interacting elements. The unique perspective of working inside the clear cup allowed the students to see their work from both the inside and the outside. The three dimensional layers of their work gave them a sense of the foreground, middle ground, and background of their space. This depth perception fostered extra spatial understanding.
The final step of collaging coloured tissue paper on the outside of the cup created added dimensions of colour and layers to their work. When holding the cup up to the light, the children could see the shadows and outlines of their sculptures, simultaneously noticing the images from the inside and outside. Turning the cup in the light offered a beautiful kaleidoscope effect. Excellent!